Anyang Law Office | Helping a Client Wrongly Charged With Sexual Intercourse With a Minor by Deceit Conclude the Case With a Non-Referral Decision

Deceit refers to achieving an unlawful purpose by leading the other party into error, such as by deceiving or enticing them or by exploiting their ignorance or trust, so that they cannot make a normal decision.

Under criminal law, offenses committed by deceit as a means of conduct include obstruction of official duties and sex-related offenses.

A sexual offense by deceit means that the offender, for the purpose of sexual intercourse, induces a misapprehension, mistake, or ignorance in the other party and exploits the victim's resulting mental state to achieve the purpose of sexual intercourse.

A person who has sexual intercourse with a child or youth by deceit may be punished by life imprisonment or imprisonment for a definite term of not less than five years; a person who commits an imitative sexual act, by imprisonment for a definite term of not less than five years; and a person who commits an indecent act, by imprisonment for a definite term of not less than two years or a fine of not less than 10 million won and not more than 30 million won.

Sexual offenses by deceit target as protected persons those who are especially vulnerable to sexual offenses, such as children and youth, persons of feeble mind, and persons with disabilities, so more severe punishment is imposed.

For that reason, if you are involved in such a charge, consulting an attorney with extensive case experience from the early stage of the case at a law office and preparing a response is recommended.

The victim claims that the client had sexual relations by coercion.

The Anyang law office attorney rebutted this, stating that it was by no means true.

The client and the victim, who had met through a game, met at the client's home on the day of the incident and drank alcohol.

The intoxicated victim initiated physical contact with the client first, and the two had consensual sexual relations.

In addition, even after the incident, the victim and the client kept in touch as usual.

If the client had had relations by coercion on the day of the incident, they would not have been able to keep in touch as usual.

The Anyang law office attorney emphasized that the physical contact was initiated by the victim first and that the relations occurred naturally, not by any coercion whatsoever.

The Anyang law office argued that the victim had intentionally concealed her age.

The game through which the client and the victim had met was a game that required adult verification.

In addition, while chatting, the victim introduced herself as being 20 years old.

Because the victim naturally brought up topics during the in-game chat, such as which bars were good, the client could not have suspected at all that she was a minor.

The Anyang law office submitted the in-game chat exchanges as evidence and emphasized that the victim had intentionally misrepresented her age.